Board of Directors

Executive Board

Mr. DC Engelbrecht (Dirk)

Chief Executive Officer

Committees: MANCO, STRATCO

Dirk obtained his BComLaw and LLB degrees from the University of Pretoria and subsequently completed his articles at Weavind& WeavindIncorporated where he remained as practicing attorney focusing on general litigation until 2011. During 2011 he was appointed by G4S Secure Solutions as the national legal advisor tasked with the general legal and statutory duties and governance of one of the largest security firms in South Africa. Dirk joined Safari in January 2014 as the Group Company Secretary and legal advisor and was appointed as an executive director in February 2018. Dirk was appointed as Chief Executive Officer on 7 November 2018 and leads the highly skilled and mature Safari team ensuring that Safari continues to grow in excellence.

Mr. K Pashiou (Kiki)

Executive Operational Director

Committees: STRATCO

Kiki is the CEO of Pace Construction Proprietary Limited (“Pace”). He has a wealth of experience and knowledge of all facets of the construction industry and has been involved in the construction of shopping centres, high-rise residential apartments, higher educational facilities, light and heavy industrial buildings, commercial buildings, food processing plants, recreational facilities, filling stations, hospitals and laboratories.

Large portions of Pace’s developments consisted of apartment blocks for the sectional title market and office blocks for investment purposes. In 1995, he became an integral part of the Safari Group and co-developed shopping centres in Gauteng and North-West Province.
Kiki has served on the Safari board since incorporation and is one of the founding members of Safari Investments.

Mr. WL Venter (Willem)

Financial Director

Committees: MANCO, STRATCO

Willem obtained a BCom Accounting & Honours degree at the University of Pretoria in 2006 and completed his articles at Deloitte Pretoria qualifying as a CA(SA) in 2009. In 2010 Willem was appointed as the Managing Director of Cosmos Management the property portfolio and financial managers for Safari Investments overseeing the operational and financial function of Safari. Willem was appointed as the Financial Director for the Safari group with effect from 1 April 2017.

Non-Executive Board

Mr. FJJ Marais (Francois)

Non-executive Chairman

Committees: STRATCO

Francois has been practicing as an architect since 1965 and has been
involved with project implementation and management in the property
industry. Since 1995 Francois focused more on the retail property industry
and has been involved in the implementation of commercial projects to the
value of approximately R3 billion so far. He has extensive experience in the
initiation and financial implementation of property developments and,
ultimately, the establishment of these developed properties as sought-after
investment assets.

Francois, being one of the founding members of Safari, led the company as
the Chief Executive Officer since incorporation and retired during November
2018. He was subsequently appointed as the Chairman of the Safari Board
and leads this exceptional and diverse team of board members.

Dr. JP Snyman (Phillip)

Independent: Non-Executive Director

Committees: Nominations & Remuneration

Philip has practiced as a private dental practitioner in Rustenburg since qualifying as a dentist in 1977. Since 1978, he has served on the boards of various companies involved in both the medical and property industries, such as Peglerae Investments, Peglerae Hospital, Rustenburg Hospital Properties, Rustkor Investments and Rustkor Properties.

He has been an investor with Safari from incorporation of the Company and formally joined the board during May 2009 as a non-executive board member. Philip succeeded the previous Chairman during April 2016 and has been Safari’s Independent Non-Executive Chairman until November 2018.He continues to be an Independent Non-executive Director.

Mr. AE Wentzel (Allan)

Allan is a qualified chartered accountant and has acted in various positions in the field of commerce since 1975, at which time he was the Chief Executive of African Bank Ltd, the only black-owned bank in South Africa at the time. He has since practised as a chartered accountant consultant, acting mainly in the non-profit and BEE sectors. Allan is a director of Transfer Administrators Proprietary Limited, a company that provides management advice in the non-profit and BEE sectors, and of KP Fiduciary Solutions, which specialises in deceased estate planning, administers trusts and executes estates.

His achievements include: the formation of African Bank Limited, the formation of CDT Foundation NPC and the listing of the first black-owned group on the JSE, formerly known as Kilimanjaro Investments Limited. He was the first lay person to head the United Congregational Church of Southern Africa and was Vice Chairman of the investment Committee of the Council for World Mission in London, with over £100 million under management.

Allan was appointed as the Lead Independent Non-Executive Director of Safari during September 2009 and also chairs various of the board’s sub committees including the Audit & Risk Committee.

Me. FN Khanyile (Faith)

Independent Non-Executive Director

Committees: Audit & Risk, Social & Ethics

Faith is currently the CEO of WDB Investment Holdings. Before assuming this role in late 2013, she worked for Standard Bank in its Corporate and Investment Bank division (“CIB”) for 12 years, the last six years of which as Head of Corporate Banking. Faith held other senior positions in Standard Bank, including Head of Trade Finance and Services and was a Director in the Structured Debt Finance Division. Faith was a member of the CIB Executive Committee and Credit Committee. She also served on the CIB Transformation Steering Committee and the CIB Women’s Forum.

Her academic qualifications include a BA (Hons) in Economics (cum laude) from Wheaton College, USA and a Masters in Business Administration (MBA)-Finance, from Bentley Graduate School of Business, USA. She also has an HDip Tax from RAU University and completed an Executive Leadership programme at Columbia University (New York) in 2007.

Her academic qualifications include a BA (Hons) in Economics (cum laude) from Wheaton College, USA and a Masters in Business Administration (MBA)-Finance, from Bentley Graduate School of Business, USA. She also has an HDip Tax from RAU University and completed an Executive Leadership programme at Columbia University (New York) in 2007.

Faith was appointed as an Independent Non-Executive Director during August 2015 after WDB Investment Holdings became an institutional shareholder of Safari.

Dr. M Minnaar (Mark)

Independent Non-Executive Director

Committees: Audit & Risk, STRATCO, Nominations & Remuneration

Mark qualified as a medical doctor in 1991 and furthered his studies with a postgraduate diploma in Anaesthetics in 1994. He obtained his degree as a specialist ophthalmologist in 2001 from the South African Fellowship of Surgeons. Mark joined the Pretoria Eye Institute in 2001 and was elected to the board of the Pretoria Eye Institute in 2005. In 2006 he was part of a team from CSIR, the Pretoria Eye Institute and the Wits Health Consortium that developed, patented and marketed the EyebornHydroxyapatite orbital implant. In 2007 he was elected as managing director of the Pretoria Eye Institute, a role that he fulfilled until December 2010. He was the financial director of the Pretoria Eye Institute from 2010 to 2012. He was a co-founder of and served as the managing director on the boards of the following property investment companies until 2014: Shanike Investments Proprietary Limited, Pretoria Eye Institute Investments, Laritza Investments No 171.

Mark was appointed as an Independent Non-Executive Director during March 2008.

Mr. CR Roberts (Chris)

Independent Non-Executive Director

Committees: STRATCO

Chris served as executive director of EG Chapman Group. Under his leadership the Group developed inter alia two golf estates and a number of retail and office developments in South Africa. During this time he was also involved in the creation of Unibank where he served on the board for a number of years.

Subsequent his involvement at the Chapman Group he became Managing Director of 5th Avenue Properties in Johannesburg developing Cornerstone Properties and various other corporate head offices, shopping centres and office parks in Gauteng. He continues to be a shareholder and director of the privately held Cornerstone Property Fund. In his personal capacity and part of his family venture he developed a number of smaller office developments in Pretoria under the name of RPG (Roberts Property Group).

Chris is a commercial property developer with extensive experience in identifying development opportunities, property finance, leasing and management of property. He was appointed to the Safari board during February 2018 as an Independent Non-Executive member.

Me. LL Letlape (Lulu)

Independent Non-Executive Director

Committees: STRATCO

Lulu is a communications and development expert with extensive experience in corporate communications, community development, transformation and stakeholder management. Her experience in parastatals and corporates both as an executive and a non-executive has provided her with immense knowledge and experience in leadership.

She has worked at senior levels of management for organisations like Telkom, Mercedes Benz, Sanlam, BHP Billiton and South32. At Telkom she was promoted from Manager to Senior Manager, then to Executive and eventually became a Group Executive. At BHP Billiton she was appointed as Vice President for the South Africa office but later became Vice President for the Group. She was also invited to serve on the Boards of PRASA and AUTOPAX.

In her 20 year career in senior management roles she focused on communication and reputation management, transformation, public and stakeholder relations, corporate image and events management. Lulu was appointed to the Safari board during February 2018 as an Independent Non-Executive member.